Crock Pot Honey Sesame Chicken

Make your weeknight meals mouthwatering with this easy, Asian-inspired chicken and rice dish with only basic ingredients! A healthier and more delicious twist on takeout. You’re gonna love it!

Last Friday my hubby stumbled home from a weeklong business trip, tired of working and traveling, and wanting home cookin’. Poor guy had to eat steaks and sushi all week on the company dime. It’s a hard knock life.

That day, I whipped up this deliciousness in the Crock Pot only to forget that I, in fact, from work home and had to sit in my swivel chair, seduced by its aroma for hours on end. The air, tangy-sweet and savory, had just about convinced me to gnaw on my arm when – ding! – done. Four hours to finished perfection in a pot! And I didn’t have to do a dang thing but whip up a marinade and flip a switch.

This Asian-inspired take on tasty, slow-simmered comfort food is so easy and absolutely delish! Plus, sometimes there’s no time for anything more than setting it and forgetting it. Forgetting it is a little tough when it smells this good, though.

Try this scrumptious honey sesame chicken and keep dinner simple, folks. All you need are a bunch of basic ingredients and a patient sense of smell!

Georgia, this crock pot meal looks great! I often cook beef or pork in the slow cooker, since the process really tenderize the meat. Looking at your recipe, I realize the time I cook my chicken has been set too long, that’s why they normally just fall apart and lack the “chew”. Thanks for sharing!

Geogia, I love this dish! An easy take-out meal I can make at home on a weeknight. Always looking for those! Your photos are bright and cheerful and SO crisp. I learn so much from your food styling, keep it up!!

Good grief, this turned out fabulous! I Shredded half the chicken and stirred into couscous with green onions, drizzled with cooking liquid. Other half of chicken will be used for honey sesame tacos. I can’t wait for leftovers!

Me Again ~ Just wanted to let you know that we did have this for dinner this evening. My DIL, who rarely eats seconds had another serving and requested your recipe. I loved this dish, the flavours are wonderful. Thank you, this is a keeper in my household for sure.

Thank you so much for sharing this delish and easy peasy dish! I made this tonight and we absolutely loved it! I did make 1 sub – I used toasted sesame oil instead of canola or olive. I love the flavor of sesame oil. This is a definite keeper for us! :)

Just finished eating this. Really really good ! My husband likes the breast and argued about the thighs. Well, he liked it and we have both agreed it may be even better adding broccoli, carrots and peas or any combination of Chinese vegetables. Thanks for the recipe! :)

I added a few small bell peppers and I used a can of pineapple, used the juice in lieu of the water when adding the cornstarch. Excellent, makes it more of a sweet and sour chicken. I also added a bit of sesame oil.

After reading this post yesterday (starting from Shut Up and Run blog), I made the Crockpot Sesame Honey Chicken and LOVED IT! It was easy to make. I didn’t use ketchup, but instead diced tomatoes from a can. I also added sesame oil. The only thing I would change would be to add the veggies in with the sauce. I served it on brown rice. I’m having it for leftovers. Thank you for this new recipe.

I thought it was delicious, the kids not so crazy about it, what do kids know? Vegetables are a good idea, maybe water chestnuts as well, give it a lil crunch. I kinda wished the sauce was thicker. The kids say the chicken was a little dry. Maybe with thicker sauce it would “stick” a little more to the meat. Again, I thought it was tremendous!

Made this last night and it was AMAZING!!! The whole family loved it, I had everything I needed on hand and dinner was fixed in less than 15 minutes. My whole kitchen was clean before we even sat down to eat. SO nice! We did have a lot of sauce so next time I think I’ll throw in a few extra chicken breasts. Using frozen chicken for 8 hrs on low would probably be great. 3 hours on high wasn’t enough and I ended up finishing it in the oven. Thanks so much for sharing this gem of a recipe!

At a friend’s suggestion, I made this… Or, I’m making it currently. I always fiddle with recipes; it’s a compulsion. One thing I wanted to mention is for the person who wanted a sub for ketchup, I used 2 Tbsp tomato paste and 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar. I figured that the recipe was already going to be sweet and didn’t need more sweetness from the ketchup.

Thanks to the suggestions above, I’m going to add carrots and red bells an hour before it’s done.

Delicious recipe! I made this a couple of nights ago and it was super easy to put together and yummy. And with an 8 month old, I need new ways to get homecooked meals done and I will be adding this to my cookbook. Even my picky husband liked it. I can’t wait to try more of your recipes! Thanks!

I just made this for tonight’s dinner but made a few changes to the recipe: I cut the soy sauce in half and added in 1/2 c. pineapple juice. I also added in 1/2 tsp. ginger and also threw in some broccoil florets and served it over rice. My kids and I LOVED it!

Thank you for this great recipe! I made it for dinner tonight and everyone in my family loved it. The only small substitution I made was more red pepper flakes–we tend to like things on the spicy side. This will become a new regular meal for us!

This recipe is awesome, I have made it several times. The first time I made it the sauce was nice and thick however, all the other times I have made it the sauce is watery! Any suggestions how to thicken it?

Glad you liked it! To make without a CrockPot, just cook the chicken and sauce separately. I’d simmer the sauce ingredients for a few minutes in a small pot. Then, toss it with the shredded chicken and serve over rice.

Thanks so much for sharing! I found this recipe through Pinterest and tried it tonight; it was delicious! I made the mistake of using regular soy sauce (not reduced sodium like you recommended), so it was a little on the salty side, so I’m going to do it your way to the T next time! (My husband still raved about it, though, sodium-lover that he is.)

This recipe has become a staple in our house. I usually mix in some veggies in the last hour, as well as the cornstarch at that time to allow it to really thicken. Serve over rice, and even my 3 year old twins adore it. It also freezes well over rice for a grab’n’go lunch.

This sounds PERFECT for filling my Asian food craving at home, without a lot of work. Read all the comments, and it sounds like unless you use ALL breast meat, or cook it way too long, you almost can ruin this, and for ME, that is GREAT news. *grin* Thanks for sharing! And I echo what others have said: great photos and food staging!

This was awesome! Along with the chicken, I also made fried rice using a seasoning mix I found in the Asian food section of the grocery store. It was a perfect meal! Looking forward to leftovers tomorrow!

This recipe was delicious and SO easy!
I used chicken thighs – I didn’t want the hassle of removing the skin before cooking so I cooked with it on, but I wish I would have added less oil. Next time, I’ll probably halve the veggie oil.
I cannot wait to eat this left-over a few times! I think once I’m going to add broccoli into the white rice. I’m also planning on putting it over oriental ramen.
This recipe may help me curb my take-out addiction!

I just HAD to comment. I got a Crock Pot for Christmas and I decided to try out a recipe I’d pinned on Pinterest. My husband picked this one and I’m so glad he did because it was SO delicious! We both gobbled it up quickly and we’re very excited about eating the leftovers on another night. I think it’s the best chicken dish I’ve ever had in my life. Also, I think using thighs rather than breasts made a big difference because dark meat tends to be moister and hold more flavor. It was SO GOOD. Other people are mentioning adding things but I don’t want to change this recipe at all when I make it in the future because it was just that good! Thank you for sharing it with us!

Just made this for the first time last night – it was a hit! All four kids and my hubby raved about it and just about licked their plates clean! Thank you for sharing this great recipe – it will become a staple in my menu rotation.

I made this recipe using a pack of 12 chicken thighs. Did not need to double the ingredients, it made plenty of sauce. The only suggestion I would make is that I used a gravy separator to drain any grease before adding the cornstarch/water mixture.

I had leftovers and we mixed the chicken/sauce, rice and a package of cooked broccoli together for the following day and we loved that as well.

I made this for a potluck at work this week. OH MY GOD it smelled delish, it WAS delish. I had leftovers (I, too mixed chicken back in the sauce) so I froze it to heat up later in the week. Pretty sure it’ll freeze ok. The taste is outstanding … you have to make this.

Absolutely love this recipe! I also have a problem getting the sauce to thicken. Even when following the recipe exactly. It doesn’t work. I figured out the hard way that I can’t just put the cornstarch straight into the crockpot. But I felt like the water was…. diluting the cornstarch powers so-to-speak. So I simply added less water, to make a super thick paste before putting it in. My problem might have been not getting enough cornstarch into the teaspoon. But what ever the problem was, that seemed to do the trick. Though I added a bunch of extra cornstarch. Its thick now, but a slight hint of cornstarch flavor to it. haha I will know what to do next time!

If cooking without a CrockPot, I’d precook the chicken however you like (bake, broil, etc.) then shred and toss with the sauce. First, bring the sauce to a boil in a small saucepan for 20 minutes. During the last 5 minutes, stir in the slurry (cornstarch + water mixture) then toss with chicken. Enjoy!

Hi, not sure I’ll get my answer on time but it’s worth a shot ;) If I use bone in chicken thighs, will the time be the same? Because I could leave it on for longer but I don’t want the chicken to dry out, as mentioned to another commenter. I didn’t see anyone post about using bone-in meat, sorry if I missed this answer already given. Thanks so much.

I love all the recipes of yours I have tried! Citrus herb roasted chicken is an all time fav :)

This recipe looks great! I am getting ready to make a bunch of freezer meals. I wonder if you could put the sauce ingredients and the chicken in a freezer bag and then dump in the crockpot on the way to work. What are your thoughts?

This looks awesome! Planning to make this for Sunday dinner with all of my college friends in my new crockpot! Any tips on increasing the cooking time if I was to double the recipe and add 8 chicken breasts? Would it work out to add broccoli/peppers towards the end?

Hey! I grabbed all of the supplies today at the store, but I have all frozen chicken breasts. I’m going to thaw them out today, since I’m not using any chicken thighs, will my meat turn out dry? I want a nice tender, juicy chicken!

My wife had to work late and I was home with the kids who had a snow day. I found this online. I went to the store for the ingredients and cooked about 2.3 pounds of chicken on high for two hours (only had time for the 2 hour option). I followed the directions precisely and it was great!! Everyone loved it and my wife was impressed! We will be making this again! Thanks so much!!

This came out awesome. I had my fiancé turn it off halfway through the day and I thickened the sauce on the stove top when I got home. I might use sesame oil next time, but there definitely will be a next time! I used 2.5lbs of chicken and made baked brown rice. Can’t beat the fact that we had dinner for 2 for under $3! I’ll be trying to freeze the leftovers.

Leave a Comment

Welcome to The Comfort of Cooking. Simple, scrumptious comfort food recipes with a twist is what you’ll find here, some indulgent and some light, but always fresh and frugal. Thanks for visiting! (read more)